Influence of magnetic field inhomogeneity on a magneto-optical current sensor

Abstract

The growth in the capacity of electric power system creates a demand for the protection of relaying systems. Optical current transducers—OCT that are mainly made up of single mode optical fibers which are subjected to Faraday rotation are used as a replacement for electromagnetic transducers due to their immunity to electromagnetic interference. However, the principal parameter in this system, the sensitivity to magnetic fields or current, depends on the Verdet constant, which is low in the case of optical fibers. However, the optical path length can be increased to compensate for it by winding the fiber around a current carrying element a large number of turns. In this work, we study a current sensor, which is made up of a conductor coil with a fiber inside, thus increasing sensitivity. We study the effect of the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field induced by the current on the sensitivity of the optical fiber sensor.